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Updated 4:45 AM on Saturday, October 20, 2007

Talented Chavis tries to settle in at linebacker

By RICHARD CROOME
Eagle Staff Writer

Billy Chavis is a veteran at dealing with change. He's almost invited it along wherever he's been.

But now he's ready to settle down, and the Texas A&M coaching staff believes it's found a home for the freshman.

Chavis played seven positions while starring at Beaumont West Brook High School. Seven was never in the equation at A&M, but there was some debate over two: safety or linebacker.

"I wish coming out here I would have had a specific position," Chavis said. "I should have told them linebacker, but I decided to go with safety. Strong safety here was kind of like an outside linebacker, kind of like I did in high school."

Before roaming behind the defensive line late in his career at West Brook, Chavis earned all-district honorable mention honors as a quarterback.

At one time before switching over to defense for good, he was the third-string quarterback, first-team running back and second-string wide receiver.

Chavis said playing all the positions has helped him understand the game better, but it's still difficult to move from one line of defense to another, which he did when he was switched from strong safety to linebacker before the start of Big 12 play.

"Mentally it's tough trying to learn one position, and then all of sudden your switching and you've got to learn all these different schemes," Chavis said. "It's kind of confusing. Sometimes I'm hearing a play, and I'm thinking [like a] strong safety, but I'm not a strong safety. I'm a linebacker. It's quite tough."

The frustration has even had Chavis wishing he would have redshirted at times. It's not in his nature, though, to not be playing.

"I'm here to play football," Chavis said. "There are a lot of people who say they want to redshirt, but once your name gets called on the sideline to go in, you forget about redshirting. You just want to go play. That's kind of my situation. I enjoy playing special teams, and if I could kick the ball, I would."

A&M defensive coordinator Gary Darnell has liked what he's seen of Chavis, though he, too, was unsure of a set position for Chavis, who earned all-state honors at linebacker with 98 tackles and five sacks as a senior.

Chavis definitely has the frame for a linebacker at 6-foot-5.

"He's a very talented guy. He was an average-speed safety, but he's a fast linebacker," Darnell said. "Certainly, he's up to 230-something pounds and there are not that many guys running around in the backfield that are that big. And conventional wisdom says he's not as big as he's going to be."

Chavis was running around impressing everyone during two-a-days.

When the names of the freshman class were brought up - always a hot topic during summer camp - Chavis inevitably was among the few mentioned, if not the only one talked about after workouts.

Wearing No. 10, which belonged to last season's starting linebacker Justin Warren, Chavis stood out, especially when lining up at safety.

"When two-a-days came, I kind of got out there and showed them what I could do, and I had a feeling that a lot of people would want to see me play," Chavis said. "The [coaches] never really pulled my coattail with it, but I read a few articles and there were a few questions about Billy Chavis. I just came out ready to play, showed some good enthusiasm, brought a lot of momentum with me making some tackles, making some plays. They already had expected me to be a good athlete, and I was just ready to go out there and show what I could do."

Chavis hasn't had many opportunities to show off during the season, especially now that the position switch has been made.

Even during practice, with seniors Mark Dodge and Misi Tupe starting and sophomores Matt Featherstone and Anthony Lewis backing them up, Chavis spends more time studying what to do than doing it.

"I try to get as many reps as I can, but they're really focusing [in practice] on the ones and twos right now with me being the third linebacker," Chavis said. "I guess I have to wait my turn, be more patient, but I'm eager to play. It's frustrating being on the sideline taking mental reps and you see something happen that you feel you could have prevented from happening."

Darnell says Chavis' time will come, which likely won't be until next year. Darnell likes everything about Chavis except his lack of experience.

"When you play linebacker, there is a defined attitude that is necessary there, and Billy's got a bright personality and common sense for football," Darnell said. "When he gets a chance to work on fundamentals, he's got a really bright future there.

"I've watched him since the day he got here and kept watching him and thought eventually I'm going to have that guy, and sure enough, it happened."

NOTES - Chavis threw for 900 yards and ran for 700 yards his sophomore season at quarterback for Beaumont West Brook. He was an all-district running back as a junior and was also honored as a wide receiver. ... Chavis considered attending Missouri and Arizona, but chose A&M because of proximity, among other reasons. ... Chavis has a cousin, junior defensive end Tommy Chavis, who plays for Missouri.